Warped Landscape could prove to be a very useful colorless utility land. While it’s seemingly a worse version of a popular Commander 2014 card called Myriad Landscape, there are both advantages and disadvantages to it.

Firstly, Myriad Landscape is only legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage. It comes into play tapped, but can then sacrifice itself to seek out two basic lands of the same type and put them into play for only 2 mana.

The major advantage of Warped Landscape is that it comes into play untapped, meaning you can tap it for mana as soon as it comes into play. It also lets you sacrifice it for 2 mana to get a basic land into play tapped. That’s the same mana investment as Rampant Growth, but it requires that you play a land in addition. Still, at the very least, this land can go into literally any draft deck. While it’s not as good as Myriad Landscape, it easily sees play in Commander.

Did Warped Landscape see play in Standard?

With the Khans of Tarkir fetchlands no longer in Standard when Shadows over Innistrad arrived, some speculated that Warped Landscape would be good for Battle for Zendikar-block Landfall triggers. It's good that you can play it and use its ability in the same turn for two triggers. So, it was possibly that it could see a smattering of play. While the basic land coming into play tapped puts it on par with a land like Evolving Wilds - although Wilds doesn’t tap for mana.

Still, you can’t ask a lot from a non-basic land printed at common. It definitely was a high pick in Shadows Over Innistrad drafts and sealed deck tournaments, especially in top competitive play. Shortening your deck and fixing your mana is always going to be important, especially when mana fixing is at a premium. But Warped Landscape didn't make the cut in competitive Standard deck.

Does Warped Landscape see play in other formats?

Somewhat predictably, Warped Landscape has seen a fair amount of Commander play, especially in the Landfall-happy Omnath, Locus of Rage decks. Getting two 5/5 Elemental tokens is pretty good, after all! It sees play in a lot of lists, and while it's not an optimal play in the competitive Commander environment, it's still a card that people jam into EDH decks well into 2017.

According to deckbox.org, Warped Landscape is still added to decklists all of the time, even if they are casual, "kitchen table" type decks. Mana fixing is always good to have, especially when you're working with a limited pool of cards. This is always going to be a great common land to have around and being colorless, it can fit into pretty much any deck if need be.

There’s a lot of things to like about Asylum Visitorfrom Shadows Over Innistrad. Not only is she a vampire, but she has the Madness ability. This means if you happen to discard her, you can pay 1B to cast her!

Having a 3/1 creature for 2 mana is good enough. But she also has an ability that may remind you of a poor man’s Dark Confidant and Phyrexian Arena rolled into one. At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, if that player has no cards in hand, you lose 1 life and draw a card. The beauty of this ability is that it’s a pure bonus

While people have built plenty a Madness deck and taken them to their Local Game Store, the Madness mechanic hasn’t quite broken through as a major contender in competitive play. Quite a few of these Madness creatures have made noise on Magic Online, though, so it seems that Asylum Visitor and friends have been a bit underappreciated. But with Asylum Visitor leaving Standard in October 2017, her time to potentially shine would be over... in Standard.

Asylum Visitor in Modern Mardu Madcap Experiment!

It turns out that one clever deckbuilder found a way to work Asylum Visitor into a Modern deck! This Mardu Madcap Experiment list came in 8th place at SCG Modern IQ Ludlow, and it’s a cool one! Like Asylum Visitor, Madcap Experiment is a card that plenty of deck builders have brewed around, but it hasn’t found a consistent build just yet. Fortunately for Madcap Experiment, its drawback of potentially burning you to death is negated by the emblem of Gideon of the Trials, which prevents you from losing the game if you control a Gideon planeswalker.

So how do three copies of Asylum Visitor make it into this deck? This deck has two planeswalkers that will require you to discard a card on occasion in Liliana of the Veil and Nahiri, the Harbinger. Ticking these gals up and essentially getting a free creature puts you ahead on tempo. Faithless Looting also requires you to discard a card, so the Visitor can come down in that case, too. Asylum Visitor is also nice as a choice to discard when an opponent activates his or her Liliana’s discard ability. The potential card advantage from her conditional Phyrexian Arena type ability is just gravy.

The best part about Asylum Visitor is her price. On Magic Online, she’s often been available for a mere penny. In paper, she’s hung around $0.50, and has been under a dollar since June of 2016. If you’re looking for a penny stock to invest in with some Modern playability, Asylum Visitor is definitely a good target. Beyond simply being a good Vampire for casual players to eat up, as well as Vampire Tribal Commander decks, Asylum Visitor could find a home in this Mardu Madcap archetype going forward. You really can’t lose much either way.

While you’re at it, you may want to take a look at Madcap Experiment, which is around the same price or lower.

Liliana's Mastery is a neat little Enchantment from Magic: the Gathering's Expansion set. It costs 5 mana to cast (3BB) and gives all of your Zombies +1/+1. The Enchantment also brings two 2/2 Zombie creature tokens into play. This means that these tokens are nominally 3/3 creatures with Liliana's Mastery in play. With how successfully Mono-Black Zombies played in Amonkhet Standard right from the get-go, it's not surprising that Liliana's Mastery has been seen as a two-of in some lists.

With the mass of new Zombie cards featured in Amonkhet, many players are seeking out any other cards that might synergize well with the powerful new Zombies. One card that has come to mind is a Zombie-themed sorcery card from Shadows Over Innistrad, From Under the Floorboards.

With the same mana cost as Liliana's Mastery, it would seem that this sorcery and the Enchantment would be competing for the same space in the deck. So does this Zombie token creator with Madness seem worthy of Standard play?

From a raw power standpoint, these two cards are extremely similar. From Under the Floorboards puts three 2/2 Zombie tokens into play. This is the same 6 power that Liliana's Mastery offers, but spread among three creatures instead of two. However, those tokens come into play tapped, which is a drawback. To make up for that drawback, you get to gain 3 life. For 5 mana, that's a good amount of value.

What really stands out about this card is its Madness cost. It has an X cost in it, meaning that if you discard this card, you can choose how much mana to pump into it. Heck, it's probably worth it to pay 1BB for the token and 1 life, especially since it can be played at Instant speed when Madness is being used.

Here's the thing, though. Cards that cost 5 mana or more that don't have an immediate impact on the board tend not to do well in Standard. Granted, this card does have a nice interaction with Wayward Wanderer, which would usually gain you 3 life and make your opponent lose 3 life. But with Liliana's Mastery, you're getting an immediate power boost for your other existing Zombies, plus two 3/3 bodies that can block right away. Then, you can get an immediate 4 point life swing from the Wanderer (or more if you have multiple Wanderers on board). The immediate effect on the board is more obvious.

Both of these cards are good, but I see why competitive players have shunned From Under the Floorboards. With another Zombie lord, Lord of the Accursed, also in Amonkhet, the boost from Liliana's Mastery is likely enough for the Zombie player to make a lethal push. The Mastery definitely wins here, although I really like From Under the Floorboards in a White/Black Zombie deck that favors tokens and Anointed Procession, which doubles said tokens.

Which do you prefer: From Under the Floorboards, Liliana's Mastery, or would you just play both?

I absolutely love collecting foils. Sure, they're shiny and they look nice in a binder or a Commander or Legacy deck (Modern, too, because it's an Eternal format!) But that's not why I like them. When foils were first released, many players weren't really that thrilled with them. But still, they were pretty rare and people took care of them. But most were only worth 1.5 or 2 times the value of the original non-foil card. That's not the case anymore. People love their foil sets. Once in awhile, certain foils of cards that are otherwise worthless can exceed $1 or $2, and sometimes can have ridiculous multipliers when compared to their non-foil price.

Consider Hermit of the Natterknolls. This Werewolf looks to me to have been designed as a foil (pun not intended) to the Spirits archetype that is clearly present in Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon. The Spirits, for the most part, have Flash, and Rattlechains gives all of your Spirits Flash. This means most of the time, Spirit players are going to try and cast their creatures on your turn. With the Hermit, you get to draw a card any time an opponent casts a spell during your turn. This includes counterspells or other instants that opponents will play on your turn. Sadly, the Hermit has seen very little play in Constructed, only appearing in a few random Bant Company lists when the archetype was first taking off in Standard.

But wait, the Hermit is also a flip card! If no spells were cast during the previous turn, the Hermit becomes a 3/5 Werewolf called Lone Wolf of the Natterknolls! But it gets better. Not only do you draw a card if your opponent wants to play shenanigans during your turn, but you get to draw another one, as well! That's some real card advantage, son! Again, unfortunately, Werewolves just never came together as a cohesive tribe in Standard. They lacked a lord like Immerwolf from the original Innistrad block, and also lacked a super good midrange threat like Huntmaster of the Fells (still a freaking awesome card in Modern, by the way!) So the Hermit just sort of has wandered off into obscurity.

But wait! The Hermit has not been completely forgotten. As it turns out, people really like Hermit foils. They even spiked to $3.50 in price shortly after the release of Shadows Over Innistrad and have maintained roughly a $2 price tag since then. In Magic Online, they've been highly sought after, as well, mostly in completing foil sets for redemption, but there's more to it than that. People are holding on to foils of this guy. Why exactly? They don't see play in really any format. Kitchen table players like foils, sure, but they don't usually actively buy 4 at a time. What's up with this price?There's actually a fairly simple explanation. When all of these cool new Werewolves were released with Shadows Over Innistrad (some of them are pretty damn good actually), a lot of speculators bought up foil copies of any Werewolf that seemed halfway decent. Was this a good strategy? Probably not. But the Hermit is a good card that can do some work in certain metagames full of Spirits and/or control decks being a major part of the scene.I wouldn't spend my money buying Hermit of the Natterknolls foils. However, I would pick these up in non-foil as trade throw-ins or out of bulk bins. I don't mind having a playset or two of these in case they ever become worth something. Who knows, they may be a dollar each some day. I'm not betting on it at all, but at least I know that people will probably want these down the road.

Once in a while, there's a card that screams "pick me up" that I just have to add to my collection. From Shadows Over Innistrad, there were a number of cards that I looked forward to adding to my trade binder. But none was I more excited about than Startled Awake. One look at it and I could tell that this was going to be an Archive Trap type of card in draft. But because it is also a gimmicky flip card that turns into a creature, it wasn't going to do well in the competitive scene.

As someone who did a lot of damage in Zendikar drafts with Archive Trap, I know the value of taking away 13 cards away from your opponent. In Limited, you're often playing against 40 card decks. But what made Archive Trap even better is that if your opponent searched their library at all, you could cast Archive Trap for free. I actually ended up hitting all of my opponent's lands of a particular color one time, and they failed to search with their fetchland (I believe it was Marsh Flats seeking out a Swamp or a Plains). Startled Awake is pretty much always going to cost you 4 mana, but by the time you cast this in draft, it's going to be well worth spending your turn 4. What makes Startled Awake so good is that you can pay 5 mana (3 and 2 Blue) to bring it back as a creature. What it becomes, Persistent Nightmare, is only a 1/1. But because it has Skulk, as long as your opponent doesn't use removal on it, many times you can actually get it to connect with your opponent directly. Suddenly, you get Startled Awake back in your hand and you're able to mill another 13 cards! Also, in the late game, if you happened to discard it for whatever reason, you'll often be able to get a second chance at casting it. If it's a really grindy game, you may even get a third chance! It's actually a very fun card to play with.

Perhaps it's nowhere as efficient as Archive Trap was, and that Trap is still played in Modern on occasion! But Startled Awake can take over a game on its own, which is why it's a mythic rare. Imagine if this were a rare and you opened two of these in a Limited environment. You're going to win a lot of games.As of early October 2016, Startled Awake is a $1.50 mythic rare. You can find it as cheaply as $1 if you know where to look. The cool thing is, many buylists pay $1 or more to get it in stock. Why? Because mill is a huge Kitchen Table Magic theme and a lot of mill players want 4 of these at a time. For players on a budget, Archive Trap is sometimes actually not as good as Startled Awake. A lot of casual players don't use fetchlands or many tutors, so you'd be paying 5 mana almost all of the time. Spending $6 over $36 is also a lot more palatable to people who just want to waste away a Saturday afternoon at the kitchen table. And Startled Awake is a lot more fun to play. Plus, many mill players will just play both in their decks if they happen to have them already.(To be fair I know a lot of casual players who have 4 Demonic Tutors and Vampiric Tutors and full sets of all 10 fetchlands. Heck, I know a casual player with all of the Power Nine, including a near-mint condition Black Lotus! But not everyone does.)What I like best about Startled Awake is that it is one of the most liquid cards you can find. It's so easy to pick these up at $1 or $1.50 and trade them away for $2. These are the sorts of cards that I like to collect when they hit rock bottom price wise because they really have nowhere to go but up. This card is only passable in Commander, so it's all casual demand here. And since you really do want four copies, they are usually going to disappear more than one at a time. Sure, Shadows Over Innistrad is an extremely popular set and there are a billion copies of these around. But eventually, these sorts of mythic rares become $3, $4, $5, or more. Even if it takes years to get there, I know that I really can't lose money on these unless everyone in the world stops playing Magic the Gathering.So the next time you see this card, and you need to find something in a binder to make up a difference in a trade, Startled Awake is a great target. Someone need a dollar and change to buy a soda or snack at the Local Game Store? Startled Awake is great compensation (yeah, people do this!) It's a flip card, so unlike many casual favorites, it's unlikely to get reprinted any time soon, if ever. I love this card. It's fun to play and at kitchen tables, playing four in your deck is actually pretty feasible. I'm not even speculating on this card. I just really like it and want it to appreciate like all mill-happy cards like it have. It's free money.

Slayer’s Plate seems very underrated as an Equipment. While this Shadows Over Innistrad rare has been pretty much bulk since its release, there seems to be a lot of power here. While probably not competitively playable due to requiring 3 mana just to cast and another 3 to equip, it does provide a 4/2 boost. If the equipped creature dies, and it was a Human, you get a 1/1 flying Spirit token into play.

The reason I like this card is that in Commander, there are decks that can often equip it for free. Also, being able to throw this on a flying 1/1 token seems strong to me. Heck, even if this is equipped to a Human token, you still get the 1/1 flying Spirit. So far, it seems that Sigarda, Heron’s Grace is the only Commander deck to use it somewhat regularly. There are plenty of Commanders, especially ones that play plenty of Humans, that should want this card. As a bulk rare, I really like this as a pickup.

When I first saw Cryptolith Rite, my first thought was: is this an actual Magic the Gathering card? When I read the comments that people were leaving about it, my thought was confirmed. This seems too good.

Turning all of your creatures into Birds of Paradise seems pretty broken to me. This seems like it could make Green builds of Eldrazi extremely quick. There's a lot of talk of turn 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. This with Scion tokens seems pretty busted.

There's really only one problem with this card. It's extremely bad to draw multiple copies. In Commander, that's perfectly fine since you're only going to ever play one anyway. But the power of this card can't be underestimated. With enough creature tokens on board, you can have all the mana you could ever want.

Many players called Cryptolith Rite a "win more" sort of card. What I mean by that is it's a bit tricky to build around it because if you draw more than one, it can be bad. Sure, there's enough enchantment removal around that having a back-up copy in hand is fine. But the best enchantments are those that actually benefit you in multiples. So while the power level of this card is undeniable, it's hard to say just how much it will impact Standard. It's probably a bit slow for Modern, but if Eldrazi Temple and/or Eye of Ugin get banned, this may be a viable option to keep the deck in contention.

There's one other deck that loves this card: Slivers. Gemhide Sliver in Legacy and Manaweft Sliver in Modern are 2 drops that gives all your slivers the same ability as Cryptolith Rite. You probably only would need this as a one-of or two-of to make it worth playing. But you already have ways of making all 5 colors easily in Modern, in Slivers and Allies both. So it's not a must for Modern.

Back to Commander, though, this card is absolutely busted in token decks that run Green. There are plenty of them, too. A lot of five-color decks will want this, too. Cards that are best as one-ofs tend to scale up in Commander. Also, if this draws out enchantment removal, it's probably worth the two mana. Really, mana fixing is so important in Commander that you can end up losing games just by not getting enough of one color. So at the very least, Commander players all over the place will buy it.

So, where does this card fit in Standard? I definitely see Green Eldrazi decks of all stripes seeing ways to plug it in. Losing fetch lands may make it necessary. I don't think it's really necessary in Modern. The good news about this card is while it has an inherently powerful ability, there are ways to do away with it fairly easily. Also, once you draw a second copy, it's most likely just going to be discard fodder, anyway., Still, this is a sweet card and I can't wait to get a chance to play with it.

To the Slaughter is an interesting rare from Shadows Over Innistrad. It bears remarkable similarity to Foul-Tongue Invocation, a playable uncommon from Dragons of Tarkir. But, To the Slaughter can also force a player to sacrifice a planeswalker - an ability that was relevant with the powerful planeswalkers featured in Shadows Over Innistrad. It provided a way to deal with Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy’s flipside (Jace, Telepath Unbound), Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, Chandra, Flamecaller, and other planeswalkers playable in Standard at the time.

The only advantage that Foul-Tongue Invocation has over this card is its “reveal a Dragon from your hand” clause. If you happen to reveal a Dragon from your hand when you cast it, you additionally gain 4 life. But outside of Esper Dragons, or any other deck that plays Dragonlord Ojutai, Icefall Regent, or Dragonlord Silumgar, it’s not the most relevant ability.

Overall, To the Slaughter would prove itself in a planeswalker-heavy metagame than Foul-Tongue Invocation. To the Slaughter found itself in the main decks of Esper Control, various Blue/Black and Green/Black decks, as well as many other sideboards. It always felt like a more playable card than Foul-Tongue Invocation. While gaining 4 life is a nice boost in the right context, having the additional ability to do away with a planeswalker made this card better in the long-term.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis is a 6-mana planeswalker. Usually, that’s not a good thing when it comes to seeing play in Standard. But as Elspeth, Sun’s Champion taught us all, as long as he or she is powerful enough, 6 mana doesn’t stop you from casting a good planeswalker. The abilities of this Sorin are definitely good enough. First of all, he starts with 6 loyalty, which even at 6 mana, is a lot. His +1 is excellent: draws you a card and then hits each opponent for an amount of life equal to that card’s converted mana cost. Draw Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, deal 10. Ow. For the card advantage alone, he’s worth playing. His -X is also very good. Not only does he let you deal damage to creatures or planeswalkers, he also gains you X life at the same time. These two abilities alone make him playable in control decks. I’m already sold.

His ultimate is hilarious. For -9 loyalty, you get a number of 1/1 black Vampire Knight tokens with lifelink equal to the highest life total among players. I can’t say this will be good in every game. But if you ever needed a finisher, this can definitely be one. And if for some reason that many tokens doesn’t win you the game, you can gain a lot of life.

The general consensus is that this is going to be a casual hit and a Commander all-star. That opinion seems well-founded. In Commander, he’ll be making plenty of tokens with that ultimate. Nevermind that his +1 hits all opponents, and Commander plays plenty of cards with high mana costs. You’d be silly not to play this if he’s in your colors. In casual play, he can be a big finisher and Vampire decks are super popular. So yeah, he’s going to be worth something no matter what.

But it remains to be seen if Standard can support another 6-mana planeswalker. The big draw of Elspeth Sun’s Champion is that she could make 3 tokens at will and her emblem was bonkers. Sorin, Grim Nemesis is powerful, as long as the deck is there to support him. Whatever the case, this is an awesome planeswalker.

At one time, Fact or Fiction was one of the most powerful cards in Magic. For 4 mana, at instant speed, you got to draw 5 cards from your deck. The trick is that your opponent gets to separate them into two piles, and you only get to keep one. The other cards go to the graveyard. But when this card was legal in Standard, you could easily play around what ended up in the graveyard. Sometimes, you actually wanted cards in the graveyard. It was just a really good card.

Wizards attempted to create a “fairer” version of Fact or Fiction with Steam Augury in Theros. It cost 4 mana, too, but required a Red mana in addition to a Blue. Functionally, it was about the same card. But it only saw fringe Standard play, and shows up occasionally in some Grixis (red/blue/black) control decks in Modern.

Today, Fact or Fiction still sees play in some Legacy decks. Some Miracles, Omni-Tell, and Esper Mentor decks have played a copy, sometimes in the sideboard. But mostly, both it and Steam Augury have become Commander only cards. Well, Wizards decided to print another Fact or Fiction variant, more in the vein of Steam Augury. But this time, it scales to how much mana you pump into it.

Epiphany at the Drownyard is very similar to Steam Augury, in that your opponent chooses the pile you get, instead of how to separate the piles. With the original Fact or Fiction, it was the other way around. It was much more skill-testing for your opponent to choose the piles correctly. It's a lot easier to identify which pile is probably worse.

So in many people’s view, Epiphany at the Drownyard, then, will often give you “bad” cards. In some graveyard based decks, this isn’t really a problem, though. Also, if you get certain combinations of cards, the pile chosen may not matter

Beyond this, the only difference is that it costs X. Interestingly, it allows you to pick up the top X + 1 cards instead of the 5 that both Fact or Fiction and Steam Augury gave you. This means you’d have to make X equal 4 to get the same value. In a graveyard-based environment, though, paying 3 for X and 4 cards may be fine. What makes this card special is that you can put as much as you want into it. The more you get to choose, the more dangerous it becomes.

On the surface, this seems strictly worse. But the tradeoff comes in how much you choose to put into it. You could pay only 2 mana for this (1 and a Blue) and reveal only 2 cards. You could put 10 mana into it and reveal 11. Decks that want to put cards in the graveyard have to love this card. If decks built around Delirium ever take off, you’re probably going to want this. It’s tricky to get 4 different card types into the graveyard, but not if you have this around.

I really like this card in a midrange control deck where you can afford to lose some cards in order to gain some. What made Fact or Fiction so good, though, is that you could count on 5 cards every time. The variance of this card could either make it super good or super bad. An opponent could just choose to make you lose every card you reveal - a pile can be zero cards, by the way. So you have to be careful. Also, you don’t actually discard the cards that go to the graveyard, so it doesn’t trigger Madness.

If this had been printed during the original Innistrad when Flashback was around, this would’ve been ridiculously good. There’s a chance it will still be good, though. I can even see a Modern deck or two wanting to include this. If you really don’t care what ends up in your graveyard, it’s perfectly fine. I could see a Dredgevine deck wanting to use this. Getting another way to consistently get to more copies of Bloodghast, Gravecrawler and Vengevine seems good to me - although I think that deck already has the tools it needs. But I can see people toying with it in that case.

It’s also good with one of my favorite Commanders from Khans of Tarkir, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. Fact or Fiction is a good card in that deck, because it triggers Sidisi’s ability to create a Zombie whenever a creature hits the graveyard from the library. You only get one token no matter how many creatures hit at once, though. But it still works in the deck, plus gives you the chance to fill the graveyard at a much greater clip. I like it there. Actually, there are quite a few Commander decks that may play this over Fact or Fiction, since you can have a billion mana over the course of a game to throw into it.

There are other Zombie decks that could take advantage of Epiphany, too.Grimgrin, Corpse-Born doesn't mind dumping a whole bunch of its deck. Certain builds of ThraximundarZombie decks don’t mind, either, and those decks tend to have more combo elements that you can dig for. Stitcher Geralf is the Legendary Creature that I hear thrown around a lot in reference to this card, and I see ways it could work.

I’ve always been fond of X spells. Part of their appeal is just how much you can do with them given the proper mana. It’s why cards like Banefire and Epic Experiment have always been so fun to play with - they only get better the more you have to pump into them. Granted Epic Experiment was never the consistent tournament winner that Banefire was, but ask a Commander player what Epic Experiment does with the amazing mana base of Commander. It makes EDH players sad. I don’t see Epiphany at the Drownyard being that level of epic, of course, cause it doesn’t actually win you the game outright. But we live in a world where Laboratory Maniac is a win condition in Modern (yes, really, as an alternate win-con in Ad Nauseum Combo). So running out of cards can actually be a good thing.

This could be a pretty decent card in Standard and I actually see people brewing with it in Modern, and even Legacy. Is it less efficient than Fact or Fiction? Most certainly. But I do like it better than Steam Augury, since this requires only one color of mana. And for Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and the many other graveyard-based EDH decks out there, I’d definitely play it.

When the Commander 2014 decks were first released, I was ecstatic about Nahiri, the Lithomancer. She’s become my favorite planeswalker in the game, and discovering that she was going to be in the return to Innistrad made me quite happy. So now, here we have Nahiri, the Harbinger in Shadows Over Innistrad. Is Nahiri 2.0 all we could have hoped for?

Her +2 is fine with me. Sure, you have to discard a card to draw a card, but with Madness making a return in Shadows, this is fine. She’s a fine enabler for that. Her -2 is a decent way to deal with problems, albeit they have to be tapped if you’re exiling an artifact or creature. But she can also exile an enchantment with this ability, too. Alone, those are two decent ability for a 4-mana planeswalker, and she starts with 4 loyalty. Not bad so far.

Her ultimate ability is pretty sweet. For 8 loyalty, she can search out any artifact or creature from your deck and put it right into play. It gains haste, but has to return to your hand at end of turn. If you have a card that can just win the game in your deck, this is pretty sweet. Having to return to your hand isn’t really that big a downside if you pick the right card.

For most people, this ability means Blightsteel Colossus in Modern or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger in Standard. But really, her ultimate ability is based on whatever the current game state is. If your opponent is vulnerable and you need a linchpin, this is how to get it. She also would work fine alongside Chandra, Flamecaller from Oath of the Gatewatch. So I can’t see her not doing some work in Standard, even if you only ever use her first two abilities in a game. 4 mana to exile two problem things is fine, especially when one or both of those things are tapped Eldrazi.

I think she’ll really shine in EDH, personally. Sadly, she can’t be a badass Commander the way Nahiri, the Lithomancer is. But Nahiri #1 could only really work in a deck based completely around equipment, which actually has turned out to be pretty good in EDH. The Harbinger can fit into a lot of decks. I can’t think of a Boros (Red/White) deck that wouldn’t want to have her.

In Modern, Ajani Vengeant does a lot for only 4 mana, so she’s competing with him for playability in that format. And Vengeant doesn’t really see a lot of play in Modern anymore - which is sad. That being said, she could be an answer for Eldrazi in Modern, but at that point, much of the damage is already done as whatever you target has to already be tapped. I think she’s best suited for Standard.

While I prefer Nahiri the Lithomancer flavor-wise, I think that the Harbinger could be quite a playable planeswalker. She fits really well into the themes of the new Innistrad block, too. I’m excited to be able to play with her.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the flavor of Startled Awake and the Sorcery’s flip-side Persistent Nightmare. 4 mana to dump 13 of your opponent’s cards into the grave from the deck seems okay when we’ve had Archive Trap at 5 mana in the original Zendikar that did the same thing. However, Archive Trap could be cast at instant speed, and could cost 0 if your opponent searched his or her library that turn. Startled Awake has an interesting distinction of being the first Sorcery, that I can think of, that can come back as a creature from the graveyard for 5 mana (3UU).

Persistent Nightmare is really underwhelming, though. Sure, it has Skulk, meaning that any creature with more power than it can’t block it. If it gets to deal combat damage to a player, it returns to your hand. So cool, you get to cast Startled Awake all over again! Sure, but how good is that really? Mill is an extremely popular archetype among casual players, and heck, it occasionally wins a tournament or two. It’s pretty fun with Sphinx’s Tutelage from Magic Origins, even without ever using its flipside. It’s like Persistent Nightmare exists for the sole purpose of being annoying. It could be potentially useful, too, but that’s quite an investment - 4 to initially cast, 5 to reanimate, and then having to deal damage? You could also discard this card, or mill this card, at some point, bring it back for 5, deal the damage, then get it back to your hand.

Like many cards in Shadows Over Innistrad, this card is extremely well-designed from a flavor perspective, but is rather conservatively costed. Really, this is a mythic so that it doesn’t break Limited. At rare, this would be an auto-include in any blue deck, as milling 13 cards out of a 40-card Limited deck really hurts an opponent. Being able to come back in anyway is pretty devastating in that case. Cast this on turn 4, bring it back on turn 5, swing with it on turn 6, get it back and recast it for probably the rest of your opponent’s deck. That’s why it’s a mythic. That way, it doesn’t show up in every draft deck ever.

This seems like a big time casual hit to me. Heck, I’d probably play it in a Circu, Dimir Lobomist, Mirko Vosk, or Phenax, God of Deception EDH deck for funsies. It’s not a card that should see much competitive play outside of big time Limited tournaments - where it will be good. The fact that it can keep coming back seems to make it EDH playable. Some opinions so far seem to think it’s not even good there, but Commander is a format where people play what they want and I would play this. So I’m on this card’s side. As I said, it’s a way to speed up all of those Sphinx’s Tutelage decks people like to play. I’m not sure how good that card is without Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged around, losing Treasure Cruise, and Outpost Siege or Monastery Siege. Chandra, Flamecaller is around, though, and people are brewing with her in Tutelage decks. So Startled Awake could sneak into a deck like that.

Startled Awake is a big flavor win, and while I wouldn’t ever buy a copy at pre-order prices, it’s one I’d play in Commander in the right deck, for sure.

Whenever our Human Cleric friend or another of our creatures enter the battlefield under our control, we gain 1 life. We have no choice in the matter. It is not a may effect. Just gain the one life. There's nothing wrong with this ability. Of course, when you compare it to the famous "Soul Sisters"Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant (or even Auriok Champion if she's more your fancy), it's pretty underwhelming. The Soul Sisters give you one life whether it's your creature or an opponent's. And those gals cost only a single mana to cast. This dude costs 3 - 2 and a White.

However, for a cost of 2 mana and sacrificing another permanent of yours, you can transform him...

"...and I will prove my devotion." the Wayward Disciple says.

How exactly does the Wayward Disciple prove his devotion? By becoming a 2/4 clone of Zulaport Cutthroat. Seriously, he does exactly the same thing. Does this make him bad, having to essentially pay 3 more mana plus the sacrificing of one of your permanents to get what the Cutthroat can give you for just 1 and a Black? Many players seem to think so.

While he may not be in the realm of "Constructed playable" land, I do think that this flavorful dude can do some work in Drafts and sealed deck tournaments. You know, there are plenty of cards designed for just that environment. This is one of them. Also, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim has become a fairly popular Commander who loves having more Clerics around. Being both White and Black, it's no problem for Pious Evangel and his flipside to be jammed in there. I mean, in Commander, Blood Artist is better. But maybe you don't want to pay $4 a copy for one (yeah, seriously $4). This is a cheap alternative, albeit one that makes you do a lot for it. And Blood Artist is actually better, since his ability activates when anyone dies.

Still, I love the flavor of Shadows Over Innistrad, and this guy is a win from a flavor perspective. But yeah, I'll stick with Zulaport Cutthroat, Blood Artist and the Soul Sisters in my Commander decks. Nice try my Evangel friend, but your devotion will not sway my faith.

Thing in the Ice is a superb rare creature from Shadows Over Innistrad. On the surface, a 0/4 with Defender definitely doesn’t look exciting. But Thing in the Ice enters with 4 ice counters on it. Each time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you remove an ice counter. Once all four counters are removed, it transforms into Awoken Horror. He’s a 7 / 8 Kraken Horror that returns all other non-Horror creatures to their owners’ hands. For an initial investment of 2 mana, that’s pretty incredible.

Already, Thing in the Ice and his enormous flipside is being called a control finisher. It’s not hard to see how. Not much can deal with a 7 / 8, especially one that evacuates all other non-Horror creatures from the board. The non-Horror clause is a big deal since you can have multiple copies of Thing in the Ice on the board at once. It’s hard to say what other playable Horrors will be in Standard along with it. The only notable one outside of the new Innistrad sets is Despoiler of Souls from Magic Origins. But a 3/1 that can’t block isn’t really a big deal if it’s on the other side of the board; but it feels good to have them on your side of the board in this case.

Awoken Horror may prove to be good in Modern, also. Spellskite is a popular Horror played in the format. To a lesser extent, Phyrexian Revoker and Phyrexian Obliterator look pretty good alongside it. Some players think it may creep into Legacy and even Vintage. It’s only 2 mana (1U) and those formats have cheaper and powerful instants and sorceries than you’ll find in Standard.

The Horror theme is alive and well in Shadows Over Innistrad. Not only does this card have great flavor, but this may be one of the best cards in the entire set.

Soul Swallower is definitely one of the more interesting creatures with Delirium from Magic the Gathering's Shadows Over Innistrad set. Delirium abilities only activate once you have four or more different card types in your graveyard (e.g. Artifact, Creature, Instant, Sorcery, Land, etc.) What’s especially interesting about Soul Swallower is that he essentially “swallows souls” without actually removing any cards from your graveyard.

On his own, Soul Swallower is a 3/3 Wurm with Trample for 2GG. But once you have Delirium active, at the beginning of each upkeep, you get to put 3 +1/+1 counters on him. Very quickly, he can become very big. Having Trample means your opponent can’t simply chump-block, either. His effect is a bit slow for Constructed, though. Soul Swallower is pretty good in Limited, though, as seen in this winning Shadows Over Innistrad Sealed pool.

There is an Enchantment called Hardened Scales, which gives a creature an extra +1/+1 counter whenever they would gain one. Unfortunately, it was no longer in Standard when Soul Swallower arrived. It's not like such a deck has very good synergy with Delirium anyway. Still, Soul Swallower was a bomb in Limited once you hit Delirium.

Soul Swallower does see some EDH / Commander play in graveyard-based decks like those led by The Gitrog Monster, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, and Ishkanah, Grafwidow (who has Delirium herself).Soul Swallower is another well-designed creature from the Shadows Over Innistrad set.

Hinterland Logger may seem to be just a simple Human creature for 2 mana on the surface. But this 2/1 gal can transform if you’ve cast no spells in a turn, becoming a 4/2 Werewolf with Trample! At common, this is a potent creature, especially in Draft. Granted, like most werewolves, she has to transform back if a player casts two or more spells in a turn. But Timber Shredder is about as solid as they come for a flip-side at common - unless you’re Delver of Secrets.

Will Hinterland Logger be good enough for Standard? It all depends. In the old Innistrad block, there was a Werewolf lord called Immerwolf. Not only did he pump your Werewolves by +1/+1, but once your Human Werewolves transformed, they couldn’t transform back. It’s doubtful we’ll be seeing a reprint of Immerwolf, though. Still, if you’re building a casual Werewolf deck, this would definitely be a cheap common creature to consider that can do some serious damage early in the game.

We all knew that Avacyn was returning in Shadows Over Innistrad. Not only has she returned, but she comes with a flip-side! A red-white Avacyn was speculated by some people when the set was first announced. Those that did so are quite correct. Archangel Avacyn is a 4/4 for 3WW with Flash, Flying, and Vigilance. When she enters the battlefield, creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. This is a pretty good effect and would make her a playable creature just with that.

But it's the flip-side that really makes this new Avacyn interesting. Whenever a non-Angel creature you control dies, you transform Avacyn at the beginning of the next upkeep. This means that you could Flash her in during an opponent's turn after one of your creatures die. She'll then transform as your turn begins. Avacyn becomes the Purifier, who deals 3 damage to each other creature and each opponent as she transforms.

The effect seems counter-intuitive since your creatures will no longer have indestructible at that point. There is Make a Stand from Oath of the Gatewatch, an 2W Instant that makes creatures you control gain +1/+0 and indestructible until end of turn. Also, Avacyn becomes a 6/5, although loses vigilance.

This new Avacyn is like a super-charged Serra Angel. She seems playable in a Red/White/X mid-range deck, although you don't actually need to play Red to play her in Constructed. Red/White/X Commander decks will really have fun with this new Avacyn, though, especially Kaalia of the Vast. She could prove to be a fairly good Commander herself, especially with Flash. Timing her ability is very important, but she can be pretty devastating.

In most cases, Avacyn the Purifier will wipe the board, deal 3 to your opponent, then swing for 6 more. Those 9 points of damage will likely be enough to win the game most times. Some players have noted that it doesn't seem fair that she doesn't deal the 3 damage to you - flavor wise. But this was probably done for play-ability reasons. She strikes me as a land stand sort of card that can turn things around when you're behind. Saving you from a board wipe seems worth it. You just have to be careful how and when she transforms. It's possible she'll be a format-defining card. Heck, she may even be playable in Modern. Only time will tell.

Tamiyo’s Journal is an interesting twist on the Investigate mechanic from Shadows Over Innistrad. Investigate allows you to put a Clue artifact into play. Its purpose: you can sacrifice it for 2 generic mana to draw a card. This Legendary Artifact lets you investigate at the beginning of each of your upkeep steps. Then, you can tap it to sacrifice three Clues and tutor up any card from your deck to your hand. This seems pretty helpful. But on a 5 mana artifact, it seems like it’s not going to be much of a deal in Constructed, unless you can build a deck around Investigate to the point where you can tutor up something as soon as you cast it.

The real power of Tamiyo’s Journal will likely be unleashed in Commander. Decks that care about artifacts, in particular, should really enjoy the free Clue every turn. Red artifact decks, such as Daretti, Scrap Savant and Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient, can especially use the free source of card draw. They’re also cheap artifacts that can be sacrificed for gain. One ability that comes to mind immediately is that of Goblin Welder. He can sacrifice the Clue token and bring back any artifact from your graveyard.

Clues are definitely a curious new addition to Magic. But Tamiyo’s Journal appears to have finally made them relevant enough to be splash-able in a ton of Commander decks. It’s also solid in Limited, where any card advantage is welcome. To have a tutor for the best card in your draft deck also can’t be underestimated. This is a really solid card. Will it be part of a greater strategy in Standard? That’s hard to say. But this could become a staple in a number of Commander decks.

Bygone Bishop is an excellent example of the Investigate mechanic featured in Shadows Over Innistrad. With Investigate, you put an artifact into play called a Clue. You can sacrifice this Clue at any time for 2 generic mana to draw a card. In White, any sort of card draw is welcome. Players may remember a similar creature from the original Innistrad called Mentor of the Meek. Is the Bishop better or worse than the Human Soldier that still sees considerable Commander play, and even some play in Modern?

Mentor of the Meek allowed you to pay 1 mana to draw a card whenever a creature with power 2 or less enters the battlefield under your control. The Bishop requires that you can a creature with a converted mana cost of 3 or less to get a Clue artifact. It’s still a pretty powerful ability. Being a 2 / 3 flyer is certainly relevant, too. This is a card that only gets better as you cast multiple copies. Any sort of easily accessible card advantage, especially in a deck built around smaller creatures, is most welcome.

With the existence of Collected Company, it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to create a functional reprint of Mentor of the Meek. This is why Investigate only triggers when you actually cast a creature, rather than just when it enters the battlefield. Collected Company decks would happily run a copy to get some Clues were that the case. Alas, the cast trigger is required. In Standard, there could well be decks that run multiple copies of the Bishop. It all depends on how good Clues really are. Outside of Standard, the other Constructed formats probably will find Investigate a bit too slow of a mechanic for competitive play.

In Commander, the Bishop is a bit more limited than Mentor of the Meek. Take for example one of the more popular Commanders from Oath of the Gatewatch, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. While the Bishop seems perfect for a Cleric Tribal deck like Ayli’s, many creatures in Ayli’s deck are 4 mana or higher. However, many of those 4-mana creatures have power 2 or less, making them perfect companions for Mentor of the Meek. That said Bygone Bishop could still benefit from the 1-3 drops in the deck, including Ayli herself.

In a Blue/White Spirit Tribal EDH deck, such as one led by Geist of Saint Traft, Bygone Bishop can pair with another Spirit friend, Erdwal Illuminator. This 1 / 3 Spirit creature allows you to investigate an additional time each time you would investigate. Being a 3-drop itself, the Illuminator will let you investigate upon its entrance, as well. Also, most creatures that see play in a Geist of Saint Traft deck are converted mana cost 3 or less, so that’s a lot of investigating that the Bishop can do!

There are plenty of other decks that could use the Bishop, though. Really, that's any Commander deck that plays a fair amount of 3 CMC or less creatures. One Commander that comes to mind that can also benefit from the Clues themselves is Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. While he himself costs 5 mana (3RW), his deck plays many 1-3 drops. With his Metalcraft ability, you only need to make 3 Clues before his Metalcraft ability activates. Then all of your creatures gain +3/+0. The deck also lacks consistent draw power, so having the Clues around later to draw a card is also welcome.

Overall, Bygone Bishop is a new take on the idea of Mentor of the Meek. It may not be quite as versatile, as it doesn’t trigger on tokens or other small creatures entering the battlefield. But this is a good, well-designed card that could see play in the right deck. It will also be a useful part of more than a few Commander decks in the future.

For long time Magic players, Pick the Brain from Shadows Over Innistrad looks like a much worse version of Surgical Extraction. Many players have already remarked that they’d much rather have Thoughtseize or even Duress over this.

But actually, Pick the Brain is a better version of a card from the original Innistrad, Night Terrors. It lets you exile any nonland card from your opponent’s hand for 2B. But with Delirium, you get to search your opponent’s graveyard, hand, or library for any copies of a card with that name and exile them, too. While having four different card types in your graveyard sounds difficult, it may not be with the amount of discard effects featured in Shadows Over Innistrad.

This is one of those cards that may mostly be featured in Limited. Exiling your opponent’s best card is even more important in draft or sealed deck. Is this good enough for Constructed? It all depends on how good Delirium-centric decks become. This isn’t going to do much outside of Standard, since in Modern and Legacy you already have Surgical Extraction (which can also hit non-basic lands!) But as far as power level, this is already a functionally better version of a previous Innistrad card.

Is Heir of Falkenrath the “fixed” Delver of Secrets for Shadows Over Innistrad? Delver of Secrets turned out to be a development “mistake” as it turned into the engine for an entire deck archetype. The Heir is a bit more fair, requiring you to discard a card to flip this 2/1 into a 3/2 flyer - the same stats as Delver of Secrets’ flip-side Insectile Aberration.

The Heir costs 1B to cast for a 2/1, which is pretty unexciting on its own. But with the return of the Madness mechanic, discarding a card isn’t quite the cost that it usually is. Cards with Madness can be cast for less than normal as they are discarded. Actually, in many ways, the Heir to the Night can make an appearance more consistently than Delver’s flip side. With Delver, you have to have an instant or sorcery card on top of your deck during your upkeep. With the Heir, you can flip it whenever you want by discarding a card.

You may wonder why it says that you can only activate its flip ability once per turn. This is so you can’t just discard every card in your hand and trigger Madness multiple times. If you have multiple copies of Heir of Falkenrath on board, you can still trigger each one once. You only need to have a couple of good Madness cards in hand to do some serious work. In some respects, this is better than Delver of Secrets in the right deck. You just have to build around this uncommon Vampire a bit differently than you would around the Delver of Secrets.

Delver of Secrets isn’t going anywhere in Modern and Legacy, and especially Pauper being that it’s only a common. But Heir of Falkenrath and her flipside Heir of the Night could turn out to be a powerful creature. She’s super good in a Madness-happy Limited environment, but she’s definitely strong enough for Constructed, too.

Relentless Dead from Shadows Over Innistrad may be one of the best Zombie creatures ever printed. This Mythic Rare creature can be returned to your hand when it dies for a single Black mana. But, that’s not what makes it so good and worthy of Mythic Rare status. It’s the second ability. When Relentless Dead dies, you also have the option of paying X, where X is the converted mana cost of another Zombie in your graveyard. It also has Menace, meaning it can only be blocked by two or more creatures.

Cards that replace themselves are usually pretty good. But the best part about Relentless Dead is that you can actually get back another Relentless Dead from your graveyard with this second ability. Best of all, since both of those "when it dies" abilities trigger at the same time, you can actually use both. Returning it to your hand and getting a Zombie onto the field from the grave is extremely powerful. This seems like an easy four-of in a competitive Zombie deck. Zombies were good during the first Innistrad block, and perhaps they will be good once again.

It’s also cool that Relentless Dead’s art references that of a very popular enchantment called Endless Ranks of the Dead. Endless Ranks is extremely popular in Zombie decks in both the casual environment and in EDH / Commander. Relentless Dead seems like an auto-include in any Zombie EDH deck, and it's popped up in plenty of Gisa and Geralf, The Scarab God, and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born decks.

Relentless Dead would shine in Standard, especially in Mono Black Zombies and Mono Black Aggro. The two-drop Zombie has also popped up in some Modern Mono Black Devotion decks alongside Bloodghast, Geralf's Messenger, and Phyrexian Oblterator. With future support, may even make Zombie Tribal in Modern a reality.

Invasive Surgery is a great example of the Delirium mechanic introduced in Shadows Over Innistrad. Delirium effects come into play if you have four or more card types among the cards in your graveyard. While this can be tricky, the payoff can definitely be worth it.

With Invasive Surgery, ordinarily you have a one-drop counterspell specifically targeting only sorceries. This is similar to Dispel which targets only instants. But with Delirium active, not only do you get to counter a sorcery spell, but you get to search that player's graveyard, hand, and library for any other cards with the same name and exile them.

While this card is a bit on the situational side, we've seen the power of cards like Surgical Extraction and Infinite Obliteration that have this sort of ability. Limited to only sorceries, though, Invasive Surgery is a bit narrow. Still, Delirium is a cool mechanic that if set up correctly could provide some extremely powerful benefits for those casting them.

Expose Evil from Shadows Over Innistrad introduces one of the more curious mechanics in Magic the Gathering, Investigate. When you cast a card with Investigate, you put a colorless "Clue" artifact token into play. You can sacrifice this Clue at any time for 2 colorless mana and draw a card. That's pretty good value. On top of that Expose Evil is a playable instant. It taps up to two target creatures for 1W. It's definitely good in Limited.

Back to Investigate as a mechanic, getting a free artifact is pretty cool. As other cards with Investigate are revealed, we'll get to see what mysteries can be unraveled through skillful sleuthing with these cards.

Older Magic the Gathering players probably remember Madness as a powerful way to cast cards for considerably less than their regular casting costs. Madness is a card mechanic that was first introduced in the Torment set. It hasn't been seen since the Future Sight set. A card with Madness has an alternate casting cost if end up discarding the card from your hand. This way, you still get the effect of a card, but at a lessened cost. You do have to exile it if you choose to use its Madness cost, however. In Shadows Over Innistrad, Madness makes a return.

This common instant speed spell is a perfect example of one of the Madness cards in Shadows Over Innistrad. In fact, it's actually a reprint from the Torment set. On its surface, Fiery Temper is just an overcosted Lightning Bolt, 1RR to deal 3 damage to a target creature or player. But with its Madness cost, you may pay a single Red mana and exile it to essentially get Lightning Bolt.

In Limited, this is going to be a very strong burn spell. In a deck built around the Madness mechanic, this is almost as good as the classic Lightning Bolt. You can't ask much more from this fiery common.

We also strive to one day cuddle with lions and giraffes. Until then, we’ll settle for furry rescue kitties and doggies.

We support many causes
via our business ventures, such as homelessness, support for trans
youth, equality, helping starving artists, and more! A portion of all
proceeds from Intent-sive Nature goes toward helping homeless pets in local shelters.